Suspicions
by jayer
Summary: Unanswered questions and a promise made led Sara to take a stand. Post By the Skin
1. Chapter 1

"This is the part where I don't answer your question."

The words echoed in Sara's mind. Why was Michael not talking to her? Why was he covering for the person that was hurting him.

Lincoln. That was why. She had heard all about the delay. She had examined Lincoln, at the Warden's request, after the phone call from Kessler. She had been the one that recognized that Lincoln was in traumatic shock and recommended that he be allowed to see his brother before being returned to solitary. The contact, she had hoped, would pull him out of shock and prevent a cardiac incident. Not to mention that the anxiety of the night's events could have sent Michael's blood sugar into a tailspin. Letting him see Lincoln would stop his shock as well. At least that was the theory she had presented to Pope and he had accepted as plausible and worthy of acting on.

But at the same time, Lincoln was not going to be happy that his brother was hurt again. Something was going on. Something, Sara feared, that was going to get Michael Scofield seriously hurt or even killed. And she had made a promise to Lincoln. She swore, and she fully meant it, to take care Michael for Lincoln. She knew from her visit with his therapist that Michael was not an emotionally stable person. He was a danger, not to others, but to himself. But if he wouldn't talk, how was she going to protect him. How was she going to keep her promise.

Sara reached for the medical file. All her notes about Michael's various injuries were neatly typed up and waiting for her review. Photographs of his injured foot and now his back were clipped to the pages. As Sara stared at them, pondering the riddle that was Michael's silence, something caught her eye. She picked up a photo, taken before she excised the damaged skin from Michael's back. She had been so concerned with treated Michael quickly that she hadn't noticed the bit of black stuck in the wound.

Sara pulled on a pair of gloves and dug into the fortunately unemptied biohazard trash. She laid the swatch of skin in a tool tray and reached for a pair of tweezers. The black was fabric.

"White t-shirts, blue shirts and pants, grey sweatshirts." Sara counted off to herself. There was nothing she could think of in the prison's limited wardrobe that was black. Everything was white, grey or navy blue.

"Good night, Doc." One of the rookies leaned into the room and waved at her.

"Night." Sara waved back. A thought hit her.

"Hey Katie." Sara called down the hall to her head nurse, who was filling out paperwork at the front desk. "Could you come here for a moment?"

"What's up, Doc." The older woman teased.

"Could you take a look at something. Tell me what you see." Sara pointed to the microscope where she'd put a thread sample on a slide.

Katie nodded. "Looks like fabric. Black." She leaned back and spotted the tray. "Is that?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Something is off. He is being really quiet about what happened."

"A prisoner gets jumped, seriously hurt and he keeps his mouth shut to avoid getting jumped again when his attacker finds out he narc'd. Not that stran--" Katie stopped. "Sara, you don't think?"

"Scofield being attacked by his cellmate does explain last night. Except for that." Sara pointed at the microscope. "As crazy as it sounds, my theory explains that, last night and Scofield's missing toes with no answers." Sara stood, scoping up the sample and the file. "I have to see the Warden."


	2. Chapter 2

"Dr Tancredi, how can I help you?" Pope waved Sara into the room.

She liked Warden Pope. He was a good man. But she wasn't sure he would buy her theory. Or feel moved to do anything about it. It was after all, extremely sketchy.

"I had Michael Scofield in surgery this morning."

"Extreme burn to his back." Pope nodded. "I was informed by the guards. They say it was done by his cellmate."

"What did his cellmate say?"

"Mr Sucre emphatically denies hurting Scofield. Says he was asleep, woke up to urinate and found his cellmate passed out on the floor. He said he was aware of Scofield's medical situation and tried to awaken him. Sucre says that Michael jumped as he awoke and hit his back on the bunk which caused him to scream out bringing the guards." Pope read the notes from the report on his desk.

"Do you believe him?"

"Aside from a couple of minor scuffles when he first arrived, Fernando Sucre has been a model prisoner." The warden shook his head. "But the incident was after lights out. Sucre was the only one with access."

"No, he wasn't." Sara interjected.

"Doctor, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that once the execution of Lincoln Burrows is over, Michael Scofield needs to be transferred away immediately."

"On what grounds?"

"For his own safety. And Fernando Sucre should be transferred as well."

"You're asking me to force transfer two prisoners with felony records, Doctor. I think you better tell me exactly what your reasons are."

Sara pulled a pair of photos from Michael's file. "Are you aware sir that this is the second major injury Mr Scofield has received since arriving here last month." She laid the photos on the desk. "At the time of the incident, Mic--Mr Scofield refused to implicate anyone, saying he stepped on cutting shears in the garden shed. However, there was no way that shears could have actually cut off two of his toes. Not to mention that his boot was removed and there was no blood or damage to it.

"At the time, I didn't know why he was covering except perhaps out of fear of a second attack. Then I found out about his relationship to Burrows and his silence seemed to be out of fear that he would be transfered and never see his brother again."

"When the orders to transfer him came, he told me about Burrows. Used a bogus hold request to stop it. I allowed it out of sympathy."

"I have confidential information about Mr Scofield's emotional health that explains not only why he would ask to be sent here, but also why a man with no previous record of criminal behavior would rob a bank in the first place."

The Warden looked at her with a curious expression.

"The stress of his brother's last appeal failing caused Scofield to snap and he took an extreme action to be able to see his brother in close contact for as long as they had left. But I also believe that that stress is causing Mr Scofield to ignore his own safety by keeping quiet about what happened in both incidents."

Sara pulled out the fabric sample. "This is a sample of black fabric that was burned into injury on Scofield's back. There is nothing in the prisoner's clothes, towels, anything that is black. However, the guard's uniforms--"

"are black. Doctor are you suggesting that one of the guard's caused these injuries."

"Regrettably I am. A guard would have been able to open the cell door after lights out."

"I can understand Michael Scofield saying nothing to prevent a transfer before his brother's execution. But Mr Sucre."

"He is Scofield's cellmate and I'm sure he is aware of Scofield and Burrow's relationship. He could have kept quiet for the same reason. And if not that, then perhaps out of fear that he would be hurt next."

The warden looked intensely at Sara. "Is there something else?"

"Yes sir. I believe that Captain Bellick is aware of the truth in both incidents."

"Why?"

"He was the one that signed out as escort the morning that Scofield was injured the first time. He was following behind when Scofield was brought back to the infirmary. When I asked him about the shoe he refused to tell me what happened other than it was an accident in the shed." Sara took a deep breath. "And he was on duty in Gen Pop when Michael was found last night."

"I refuse to believe--"

Sara took a deep breath. She knew this would likely happen. And she knew what she had to do.

"I can appreciate your desire to avoid ruining a man's reputation without cause. But sir, I would ask you to keep an open mind. And to remember sir that in matters of prisoner health and physical safety, as head doctor, I outrank you.

"Once Lincoln Burrows is executed, Michael Scofield will be transferred to another facility with or without your compliance. For his own safety. And if I have any reason to believe that Fernando Sucre could be in danger, I will petition to have him also transferred which, if needed, will include a full disclosure of everything I know or even suspect."

"Give me a chance to find out the truth."

"Of course, sir. I would prefer it that way."

Sara walked out of the office without another word. She paused in the hall. She never thought she'd threaten to pull rank on Bellick or the Warden. But she'd made a promise to protect Michael.

And truth be told, it had felt kind of good.


End file.
